Vehicles have been known which have a rear opening formed in the rear surface of the vehicle and a tailgate capable of opening and closing the rear opening. The tailgate is pivotably mounted on the vehicle body. An example of such vehicles is disclosed in Patent Literature 1.
The vehicle disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes: the rear opening formed in the rear surface; the tailgate pivotable in a vertical or up-down direction to open and close the rear opening; and an auxiliary opening formed in the tailgate; and two auxiliary doors for closing and opening the auxiliary opening.
The two auxiliary doors are supported by the tailgate via a link mechanism and are openable away from each other by pivoting outwardly from a widthwise center of the vehicle.
It is conceivable to apply such an auxiliary-door equipped tailgate to a vehicle of a large vehicle height. In such a case, a passenger can get in or out of the vehicle by opening the auxiliary doors, and it is preferable to allow a passenger to get in and out of the vehicle with an increased ease, i.e. provide the passenger with a high ease of getting in and out of the vehicle.